Environmental Technology Advances and Pollution Control in Waste-to-Energy Combined Heat and Power Systems

Abstract

Waste-to-energy combined heat and power plants recover electricity and useful heat from municipal solid-waste incineration while reducing residual waste volume, but annual performance is constrained by variable feedstock, seasonal heat demand, heat-transfer-surface corrosion, equipment outages, and cross-media pollutant transfer. This paper presents a structured narrative synthesis of 40 cited sources, including full-scale plant observations and trials, validated process and control models, technology assessments, and life-cycle studies. The evidence is compared within an annual operating-performance boundary and organised into three domains: steam conditions, combined heat and power configurations, and cascade heat use; feedstock control, corrosion management, reliability, and data-assisted operation; and air emissions, ash, wastewater, and greenhouse-gas control. The review shows that furnace type and steam conditions cannot be assessed independently of waste preparation, annual heat demand, auxiliary energy use, maintenance, and plant availability. Higher useful-energy recovery depends on coordinated heat-power dispatch and reliable heat sinks, whereas stricter emission control may shift burdens to reagents, auxiliary power, fly ash, and wastewater. Longer plant datasets and integrated optimisation of material protection, dispatch, and cross-media performance are needed.